Hey every1...I have a question regarding blendshape setup for a polygon model.

What is the best technique for creating targets for a completed combined model in Maya? Do I really need to copy the entire mesh just to make blends for facial animation? The reason Im asking is because Im working on a model of the Hulk and need facial expressions, but it seems like its a lot of information to store just for facial changes.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

rmatlchans

06 June 2003, 03:41 AM

I surggest you that play with "membership tool".

You would notice what I mean.:lightbulb :p

cgwolf

06 June 2003, 03:50 AM

really...ok Ill check it out (never used it before) Does it allow you to separate the model into parts for shapes?

the model is around 12,000 polys i think

cgwolf

06 June 2003, 04:11 AM

Well the edit membership tool doenst allow me to select any components? - Maybe because its made of polygons only. Anyone other ideas to create blend shapes from my model?

cgwolf

06 June 2003, 09:50 AM

Ah I figured it out...It was a matter of de-selecting the unnecessary points instead of the other way around...at least that works for me..

Thanks again rmatlchans

nelsonteixeira

06 June 2003, 01:19 PM

Make a copy of your original low poly model and delete all the faces from de body, leaving just the head. You,ll use this as a wrap deformer and you´lll make copies of this head to make the blendShapes. very cool!!
Don´t forget to turn on the Limit Influence Area/Use Max Distance
, this saves memory!! The default value works fine for me. But I think it depends on the scale of the object.

Hope this helps! :beer:

LordGolem

06 June 2003, 02:25 PM

To correctly set the max distance you could move the deformer geometry away from your hi-res model and see if some vertices remain in place instead of following the deformer. You should play with the max distance value setting it to the smallest value so that all the hi-res vertices follow the deformer geo.

cgwolf

07 July 2003, 09:18 PM

Yeah that works as well...thanks for the input. What would really be cool is if Wavefront added to the next version of Maya...the ability for Maya to calculate and record ONLY the changes in the verts/cv's instead of ALL the excess geometry of a blendshape. This would really help save memory in unnecessary calculations when morping models and help to keep scenes lighter.

dmcgrath

07 July 2003, 07:17 AM

The workaround for the last thing you mentioned is if you just select the verts you wnat to change, instead of the entire model, and make that the target for the blend. Maya does have what you said, just not exactly the way you think. ;)

nelsonteixeira

07 July 2003, 05:24 PM

This is a maya example, using blendshapes & wrap deformation. So you can use LowPoly Head Blendshapes to deform only the head region of the highres mesh. Consider the Sphere the head and the cube the body.

Hope this helps! :thumbsup:

nottoshabi

07 July 2003, 12:38 AM

Hey thats prety cool what did you do first? The wrap or the deformer?

Atwooki

07 July 2003, 01:37 AM

Create a set of the verts you want to blend first, then make your extra shapes, and then create a blendShape from those...

Atwooki

nelsonteixeira

07 July 2003, 08:56 PM

1) Make a copy of your lowPoly character, then you delete all the faces you´re not going to use. Now, you have a baseShape.
2) Make several copies of this baseShape. they´re going to be the blendTargets.
3) When the blendShapes are ok, use the blendShapedeformer
4) Last, you´re going to use the Wrap deformer!

nottoshabi

07 July 2003, 09:51 PM

Hey thanks I thinck that would come in handy. I got this really nasty demon to rig and I'm looking for posibilyties for muscle deformations and really just deformations period, it has wings and stuff so I thinck I will try this method.

Thanks for the info.

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